TV Review | Eye Love You (Episodes 6-10)

“Eye Love You is undoubtedly the best rom-com of 2024. The final 5 episodes deliver a great dose of cuteness but they are also quite emotional. Chae Jong Hyeop’s charm is spellbinding and he has an adorable on-screen chemistry with Fumi Nikaido.”

Eye Love You ended its run on TBS in Japan at the end of March. After releasing the first five episodes for international audiences, the remaining episodes are now available on Netflix!

DO YOU LIKE ME?

(L-R): Chae Jong Hyeop as Yoon Tae Oh and Fumi Nikaido as Yuri motomiya in *Eye Love You* (C) TBS

Episode 6 picks up after Yuri Motomiya (Fumi Nikaido) rejected Yoon Tae Oh (Chae Jong Hyeop) in the previous episode because she heard her co-worker Akito Hanaoka’s (Taishi Nakagawa) thoughts. This gives us an episode full of awkwardness between the characters. But it ends with the most romantic declaration to ever exist. You may have seen J-pop bands like JO1 reproducing the iconic scene with Junki Kono and Sukai Kinjo. It starts with Tae Oh saying “Do you like rice?” to which Yuri answers yes. Then, “do you like curry?”, “do you like omurice” and finally “do you like me?” Obviously, she answers with a yes, she likes him. All of that happening in Hokkaido with a sunset and a lighthouse. This is truly a memorable scene.

At the end of episode 5, it was clear things could have gone in so many different directions. One of them would have been to go into full love triangle territory or the other would have been to give us Yuri and Tae Oh getting together only in the final episode. None of that happens. The matter of what happens in episode 5 is resolved quickly with just one episode. That’s doing the right choice here. Indeed, it allows the story to keep moving forward.

LOVE IS ALL AROUND

The remaining episodes give us plenty of romantic scenes between Yuri and Tae Oh. Everyone loves to see this! Obviously, there are some pretty cool dates. In fact, episode 7 plays things in an intriguing way. We get two dates. The first one at the onsen with Yuri and Tae Oh. The type of onsen they go to is not generally the type of place you would go for a date but it ends up being a great moment for the two of them. While at the same time, Mahiro Ikemoto (Mizuki Yamashita) and Gaku Onoda (Hiroya Shimizu) go to the beach which is supposed to be a great place for dates in Japan but this isn’t the date Mahiro hoped for. Gaku is there for his scientific work.

This even turns into a rejection. The misunderstanding the two had in the previous episode is also resolved before that. There is a nice contrast between the two dates. It also shows that Yuri and Tae Oh don’t need to go to the usual date places for them to have a good romantic time. A romantic time is created with the person you love, not the place. But even after a rejection, the Mahiro/Gaku pair up turns into a spark of romance. After all, love is all around in this rom-com.

CHILDREN STORYBOOK

Moreover, the Korean children storybook from the first episode plays an important role in the remaining episodes. This story is reminiscent of Yuri and Tae Oh’s love story. As such, it affects how Yuri sees her future with the one she loves. In fact, there are a lot of emotional scenes in the final episodes. They all involve Yuri and her interactions with different characters as the truth about her is finally revealed to others. There is one scene in particular between her and Mahiro that is absolutely poignant. It shows the strong friendship that these two have.

You will definitely need tissues and even more so for the end of the penultimate episode and the final episode. The first half of the finale is a real tear-jerker. The second half also brings some tears but the happy ones. Whether it’s the soundtrack, the acting, the scenery, it’s all in perfect harmony and creates something that really hits you hard with the feels. For example, there is a scene that fades between Yuri and Tae Oh separately in different places, you cannot not cry when watching it.

Though, rest assured, it’s a Japanese rom-com, of course it ends well. Indeed, everyone gets the happy ending they deserve and when the episode ends, it will leave you with a big smile and an uplifting feeling. I said it in my review of the first episodes but I will say it again, Chae Jong Hyeop’s charm is spellbinding and he has an adorable on-screen chemistry with Fumi Nikaido. Eye Love You is the rom-com to watch this year!

VERDICT

Eye Love You is undoubtedly the best rom-com of 2024. The final 5 episodes deliver a great dose of cuteness but they are also quite emotional. You will need some tissues when watching them but rest assured, it gives us the happy ending we wanted. Chae Jong Hyeop’s charm is spellbinding and he has an adorable on-screen chemistry with Fumi Nikaido.